Numerous molding techniques have been employed in order to make a wide variety of molded items using metal molds with, for example, high pressure injection molding, reaction injection molding (which occurs at a lower pressure), thermoset transfer molding, ceramic or metal injection molding, die-casting, and gravity casting processes. In each of these situations, a mold or mold frame and a die are required in order to form the finished object. In many of the molding installations, for example, injection molding, the mold is mounted on a portion of the molding machine and connected directly to the molding machine so that a fluid material may be injected directly into the mold. Typically, a single molding machine is used to make a wide variety of molded articles. In these cases the mold and/or mold base is removed from the injection molding machine and replaced with a different mold when it is desired to switch production from one molded item to another.
Most injection molds are complex mechanical assemblies employing hock-out pins, ejector pins, slides, pulls, and removable cores in order to create the desired, complex molded shapes. These configurations are required, typically one or more for each molded part, in order to allow the molded part to be removed from the molding apparatus, and this can make the mold itself very complex and costly. Thus the fabrication of the mold and the mold base is typically a rather complex and time-consuming affair.
In the design, prototype, and production phases of a molded article, the exact configuration of the mold usually changes as the design is iterated. This typically requires movement or addition or deletion of some of the knock-out pins, slides, pulls and cores. In the prior art these modifications were addressed by creating an entirely new mold base. The cycle time required in order to fabricate these complex mold bases typically is on the order of three to six months. When it is considered that a typical molded plastic article has several design iterations, it is clear that the time from concept to a final production mold can be anywhere from four months to over one year. This extensive time period creates high tooling costs and long lead times, which obviously are translated into increased manufacturing costs which are ultimately passed on to the consumer. It would be desirable to reduce this cycle time and dollar cost in order to bring products to market in a shorter time frame.